Wednesday, September 14, 2011

People: Uniformity & Diversity

Uniformity

This picture was taken at a local middle school in Morioka. In Japan, starting from middle school, most schools require students to wear uniforms. Although everyone in the picture seen here is in gym clothes, there are also separate uniforms for girls and boys when outside of the gym. Several reasons exist for this uniform requirement; it can help the students concentrate on their studies and less on fashion (makeup is also not allowed), it presents a unified image to the public, etc. There are several situations in which there is a measure of uniformity in Japan. School is one, work, particularly office jobs, is another such situation. However, despite this unifying image, there are still several differences between students/workers. Just because everyone has the same clothing doesn't necessarily mean their personalities are all similar.

Diversity

This picture was taken during the Obon festival in mid-August. A lot of people came to watch from the riverbank. In this picture, you can note that people are wearing various different types of clothing. When outside of the workplace/school, peoples' differences come out in not only personalities and faces, but in clothing. There are various colors, styles, and personalities expressed here in this picture. It is interesting to note how kids particularly dress outside of school, as during the day they don't have much of a choice.